A week or so ago I finished 1 Corinthians and asked the Lord where He would have me go next. Leviticus was the answer. I can't say I was that entranced, but the Lord is faithful and I have been learning a couple things as I go along. Maybe someone out there can lend further insight. I'm not a theologian by any means but here are a few observations I made.
Chapters 4 - the offerings for unintentional sin
Priests - bull - blood was sprinkled in front of the curtain
the assembly - bull - blood was sprinkled in front of the curtain
Leader - male goat - blood on the horns of the altar
individual - female goat or lamb - blood on the horns of the altar
It would appear that their was an heirarchy of atonement. The greater the responsibility that you carried the greater the atonement needed to be. I also found it interesting that the blood for the priests and the assembly was sprinkled in front of the curtain. I'm guessing this would have been the same curtain that was torn in two when our saviour died. Interesting. I wonder if some of the blood splashed onto the curtain. Jesus, our priest, died for all of us, the assembly, his blood for ours.
What do you think?
4 comments:
I do not have time to look at Leviticus 1 right now, but keep posting your questions and I'll be responding. Surprise, surprise; I have spent a lot of time in Leviticus and have actually enjoyed it.
Alright, now I have some time.
The idea of a hierarchy should be of no suprise to you. We are adminonished by Paul to not seek to be teachers because they are judged very harshly. Jesus also spoke of this when he said that it would better for someone to be drowned than to lead a child a child astray.
The sacredness of blood is buried in Leviticus. Somewhere (it amazing how quickly the mind forgets references after one has moved on) it states that the life is in the blood and today we know this to be literally true, it is our blood that cares life throughout our bodies.
It is also in Levitcus where we learn the gravity of sin and the price of redemption - here is the violation and here is the price you must pay to be restored.
But it is also in Leviticus that you find out what a party animal God is. Study all the celebrations; even the laziest of us could be called workaholics compared to the Israelites, who seem to get an excuse to party down for days at a time on a monthly basis.
It's quite OK, probably to your benefit that your not a theologin. Theology deals more in theories where when you study what the Bible says in context with the blessing of the Holy Spirit's guidance the Word will be alive and fresh every time you pick it up. I find it intriguing that you shoud pick this up now in the light of all the controversy over Terry Shivoah's death and the same sex, as well as the 'inquiery'. We tend to make light of sin because of redemption; grace and mercy are not to be taken for granted. It is a good reminder tht unintentional sin is also atoned for. It is also interesting that you picked up on the heirarchy issue. I mentioned that to someone not long ago and that person didn't agree. Thanks
To be honest, I didn't think about any other issues other than where God would have me go next in my study of His word.
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